Posted on September 16, 2021 by Christopher Reichert
For many students, work-study positions offer a much-needed source of income to fund their education. Joshua Lazaro, a first-generation student from Magnolia, Texas is one example. As the oldest of four siblings, Lazaro is no stranger to working hard to accomplish his goals. It came as no surprise that he would apply for a work-study position to help offset the cost of earning his degree. What was surprising was that Lazaro, then majoring in cyber security, was ultimately selected for a job with the department of bicultural-bilingual studies (BBL).
“For the ninety jobs I applied for, all of them said no on the spot,” Lazaro said. Ultimately, only the BBL department gave him the chance for an interview. “I knew that interview was going to decide if I got the money to pay for college or not,” he said.
And yet, Lazaro’s experiences with the department would prove to offer much more than a source of income; they would prove to be a source of inspiration. Growing up in Magnolia, which the US Census Bureau reports is predominately populated by Caucasians, working for BBL was Lazaro’s first opportunity to meet professors and Ph.D. candidates who were Hispanic.
“It never crossed my mind that I could also obtain a Ph.D.,” Lazaro said, “and it wasn’t until I worked for the bicultural bilingual department that I realized I could also be a Ph.D. candidate.”
“It never crossed my mind that I could also obtain a Ph.D.,” Lazaro said, “and it wasn’t until I worked for the bicultural bilingual department that I realized I could also be a Ph.D. candidate.”
By his sophomore year, Lazaro had fallen in love with bioinformatics, a blend of statistics, computer science, and biology. Recalling the pollution levels and adverse health effects of Mexico City, where his grandparents live, Lazaro realized he could help change things for the better, and he decided to major in statistics and data science, with a concentration in biology.
Although he no longer worked with the department of bicultural-bilingual studies, his experiences there would still help shape his future, when he learned of the Stanford Summer Research Program. Encouraged by a friend to apply, and still inspired by his work-study experience, Lazaro completed the application.
“Never in my life did I ever think I would apply to a program at Stanford,” he said. “When I got in, I was absolutely surprised.”
He would spend his summer working with Stanford’s immunology department, examining the survival rates of urban and rural children in third-world countries. While in the virtual program, Lazaro would process all of the collected data and create a machine learning model to analyze it. He was even able to learn programming, which he said he hadn’t yet experienced in his UTSA classes. But Lazaro was not seduced by the prestige of working with Stanford.
“It starts with the student, with them having the motivation to go and tackle whatever obstacle is ahead.”
“It was always in my head growing up that if you didn’t go into a top-notch university that you would go nowhere, and that simply isn’t the case,” he said. “It starts with the student, with them having the motivation to go and tackle whatever obstacle is ahead.”
As he completes his remaining years at UTSA, Lazaro plans to continue working in atmospheric research and earn his Ph.D. so that he can give back to the community in Mexico City. Although he once could not picture himself as a Ph.D., he now has his sights set at the ivy league and MIT in particular.
Ultimately his time at UTSA and with BBL has taught him one very important lesson:
“Students cannot be what they cannot see,” he said. “It’s not until they meet others with a similar background that they’re able to understand that, ‘If they did it, I can also do it, but I must work hard for it just like they did.’”
It’s a long way from Magnolia to MIT, but with hard work, a little luck, and the inspiration of those around him, Joshua Lazaro may be well on his way.
-Christopher Reichert
— Christopher Reichert
